


a different path

by iolanthie



Category: The Walking Dead (Telltale Video Game)
Genre: AU, Blood, M/M, injuries
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-03
Updated: 2019-11-03
Packaged: 2021-01-20 23:56:03
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,970
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21290282
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/iolanthie/pseuds/iolanthie
Summary: AU in which they notice that Lilly has a knife in her leg. Everything else changes.Tongueless Louis. Violet and Clem are together in this but it's only briefly mentioned.
Relationships: James (Walking Dead: Suffer The Children) & Louis (Walking Dead: Done Running), James (Walking Dead: Suffer The Children)/Louis (Walking Dead: Done Running)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 35





	a different path

As soon as AJ picked up the gun and aimed it at Lilly, James felt the rest of the world slip out of focus. He couldn't hear or see anything else.

_I can't let this happen._

"She cut out my friend's tongue!" AJ said, but James wasn't able to process the information. Lilly was surrendering, begging for her life.

_If AJ does this, he'll never be the same._

"AJ, she's not a threat. Put down the gun."

AJ looked towards Clem for guidance.

"She has a knife in her leg - _James!_" Clementine screamed. James stopped and turned to face Lilly, barely having enough time to react before she attacked him. His arms were stretched in front of him, allowing him to defend himself by grabbing Lilly's arms.

He didn't have time to draw his own knives. He didn't have time to think. He found himself being pushed to the ground, holding Lilly back with both of his arms as she aimed the knife at his chest. People were screaming, shots ringing through the air.

"AJ, the gun!" Clementine ran towards James and took the gun from AJ's hands. Before she could aim at Lilly one of the raiders grabbed her from behind, dragging her away from him.

James used all of his strength to try to push Lilly off of him but it wasn't enough. White hot pain spread from the center of his chest, where the tip of Lilly's knife had started cutting through the flesh. Suddenly AJ tackled Lilly from the side, his weight just enough to shift her balance, causing her arms to move up towards James' shoulder. Her knife sank into his body just below his collarbone. She pulled it out as soon as it had gone in and aimed to strike again.

A shot rang through the air and the knife clattered to the floor as Lilly's full weight suddenly fell onto him. Blood splattered on James' face and he looked up to see that Clementine had shot Lilly in the side. He saw the terror in her eyes and then -

There was an explosion and everything went black. He was falling, there was screaming... and then a ringing in his ears, nothing else.

When he returned to awareness, there was fire flickering in his peripheral vision, lighting up the dark night. He was in water, the muffled sounds of Clem, AJ and Tenn screaming in the distance.

The searing pain was almost unbearable, but the adrenaline kicked in as he realized he would die unless he swam to the shore. His lungs felt like they were burning and his muscles were trembling from exhaustion by the time he felt the ground underneath his feet by the shore. On hands and knees, he crawled out of the water, collapsing before he reached dry land. He felt nauseous, too weak to move any further. He felt himself fading, on the verge of losing consciousness. 

He was barely aware that Aasim and Omar were pulling him towards one of the horse's carts and shoving him inside.

\---

Clementine, AJ, Tenn, Louis and Violet climbed in after him, squeezing into the small space. The horse started moving and they breathed a sigh of relief. Louis pulled his knees to his chest, shaking uncontrollably. His face was streaked with tears, blood staining his chin. 

The first thing that came to Clem's mind was to stop the bleeding. She remembered that James kept tape in his pocket. She knelt carefully next to his unconscious form, searching for the tape and passing it to Aasim once she had found it. "Can you wrap Violet's hand?"

Aasim quickly nodded, turning to Violet at the back of the cart. She allowed him to wrap the tape around her severed fingers, wincing and holding back tears at the pain.

"Is he going to be okay?" AJ asked, looking up at Clem.

She returned her attention to James, bringing her fingers up to his neck to feel for a pulse. "He has a heartbeat. It's strong."

Next, she pulled out her pocket knife and cut through the fabric of his clothes to reveal the wound. "It's deep. We just have to hope it didn't hit an artery."

Aasim passed the tape back to Clem and she used it to wrap the wound as well as she could. "We have stitches back home. I'll put some pressure on the wound until then."

AJ moved close to James' side, unable to take his eyes off of the blood. "Can I help?"

"Just make sure he keeps breathing, okay?"

The boy nodded, keeping his eyes on James' chest for the rest of the ride home. 

Clem looked around at her companions in the dim light, checking to see if everyone was okay. They were all rattled, but James, Louis and Violet were the ones with severe injuries. Violet wasn't letting on how much pain she was in, James was unconscious and Louis couldn't speak. She desperately wanted to help all of them but there was nothing else she could do until they got home.

\---

When they arrived back at Ericson's, Aasim and Omar helped to carry James inside. They got to the medical supplies as quickly as possible and Ruby started working on stitching up the wounds where Violet had lost two of her fingers.

They lay James down on the floor, Clem kneeling next to him. It was then that James started to regain consciousness, aware of the people frantically moving around him.

"James? Can you hear me?"

He opened his eyes, struggling to focus on Clem's silhouette above him.

"Clementine?"

"We have to disinfect the wound before I stitch it back up. This is going to hurt."

James gritted his teeth and nodded, becoming aware of the throbbing pain in his shoulder once again. He squeezed his eyes shut, trying to stop the world from spinning around him. He tried to stay still while Clem disinfected and sutured the wound - he had been injured before, so the process felt all too familiar to him.

Clem worked quickly and he could tell that she had stitched some wounds in the past. He clenched his fists, trying to control his breathing through the pain. He tried to concentrate on anything else - to figure out what was happening around him. 

He could hear shaky breathing and then racking sobs of pain coming from the other side of the room. 

"I'm sorry, Louis. It'll be over soon. We'll take care of you. Don't you worry." Ruby tried to comfort him even as she worked on stitching the wound in his mouth. Louis couldn't stop crying - sniffling turned to wails of agony and James winced, more at the sound than the pain he was feeling himself. Hearing screams like that reminded him of horrible things from his past. There had been a time when they didn't bother him, but since he had stopped killing they haunted his dreams.

"Is he - okay?" James asked as Clem finished stitching his wound and moved on to applying the bandages.

"They cut out his tongue. Ruby's doing what she can. Even I've... never seen a wound like that."

James felt a wave of nausea and horror hit him at the same time. He hadn't seen violence like this in a long time, but all of the horrible emotions came flooding back.

_That's why he wasn't speaking._

"I have. Seen a wound like that. I can -"

"You're all done," Ruby told Louis, and James was relieved that he wouldn't have to stitch the wound himself. He felt compelled to offer his help and he would have stitched up the wound if necessary, but the horror of working on an injury like that was something he hoped he'd never have to relive.

"It's okay, Ruby's got it. You lost a lot of blood - you need to rest." Clem stood up and carefully helped James get to his feet, guiding him towards a bed. He looked over to see Ruby cleaning blood from Louis' mouth. Suddenly the world was spinning again and he felt like he was about to fall, but AJ and Clem kept him from losing his balance. Before he knew it, he was in a soft bed.

He had almost forgotten how much a severe injury can affect the body. He couldn't keep his eyes open, but he reached out a hand to see if anyone was still beside him and he felt Clem's jacket.

"Clementine?"

"Rest, James. Everyone's been stitched up. We're safe now - back at the school."

"You saved my life," he whispered, his body aching and giving in to the exhaustion.

"I didn't want to shoot her. She was going to kill you," Clem said, her voice trembling slightly at the memory. "I didn't want anyone else to die because of me. I pulled you into this mission - I couldn't..." she swallowed, wracked with guilt.

"If your friends were saved, it was worth it."

"They were. You saved them, James. You almost died saving them."

He could feel his awareness fading, her voice sounding further away. "Thank you... for protecting AJ..."

His grip on Clem's jacket loosened as he slipped into unconsciousness and she placed his hand carefully by his side. She took a moment to make sure he was breathing steadily before taking AJ's hand and leaving him to rest.

\---

Days and nights passed in a blur. The group did their best to care for the injured people. Violet spent her time in Clem and AJ's room. It took some convincing to get her to rest, but Clem insisted. 

When James came to awareness, he found himself on a bunk bed in what must have been Louis' old room. Louis was staying in the bed across from him - usually facing the wall. Ruby and Omar brought them food and water every day and the others checked in on them frequently as well.

James felt the urge to distance himself for a moment - he didn't want to burden these people who barely knew him, even though they were so kind that he didn't want to leave. The urge left as quickly as it came when James looked over at Louis. The boy was devastated - unable to cope with what had happened to him. His friends visited him often, but he would barely look at them. He didn't know how to help, but he didn't want to leave him alone.

One day, Violet knocked and cautiously entered the room. 

"Hey, James. Hey, Lou. I brought you something." She carried a stack of books into the room, passing two to James and sitting on the edge of Louis' bed with the remaining books she had brought for him.

"We found some books on sign language, Lou. We're all going to learn it. I brought one for you - and another book, in case you want to read something else. There's a notebook for you to write in, too."

Louis gave her no response, staring blankly at the wall, unmoving.

James met Violet's eyes, frowning sadly. He felt horrible for both of them, but he didn't know what to do. 

"Thank you, Violet. That's really nice of you."

She gave him a small smile, appreciating his sympathy. She waited a bit longer to see if Louis would move. When he didn't, she tried one more time. "We're trying to help you, Lou. All of us. But we can't help you if you won't even look at us." Her voice wavered, she was clearly upset. "I'll come back later. Watch him for me?"

James nodded softly, ensuring her that he would do his best.

He spent hours over the next few days staring at the ceiling, thinking about how he could try to get through to the other boy. They had never spoken before - Louis was being held captive when James briefly met the rest of the group. He never got to hear his voice. He had gathered from the other kids that Louis had once been a vibrant, theatrical person.

That boy was gone. The raiders' cruelty had broken his once radiant, playful spirit. He didn't seem to care about anything anymore. Since Clem and Ruby insisted that they stay in bed while they were recovering, James spent some time reading the books that Violet had brought them - but Louis never once picked them up.

One day, James awoke to the sound of Louis sobbing and he couldn't take seeing him in pain anymore. He stood up carefully, walking barefoot across the cold floor to sit on the edge of Louis' bed. 

He didn't know how to help - he didn't want to overstep as Louis was refusing to respond to his friends, let alone someone that he didn't know. He didn't know how to talk to someone who wouldn't be able to reply. But he had to do something.

James placed one hand on Louis' back and when he didn't pull away, he started gently rubbing up and down along his spine. A long moment passed and then Louis suddenly moved to sit up in the bed, burying his face in James' shoulder on his uninjured side. The sudden movement made James freeze, unsure how to react at first. The boy was sobbing uncontrollably, tears falling down onto James' skin and running down his chest. James carefully wrapped his arms around his companion and he felt Louis squeeze him tightly in return. The wound in his shoulder ached but he refused to move, letting the grief-stricken boy cry for as long as he needed.

Eventually, the sobs wracking through his body eased off. Louis wiped his tears and tried to wipe James' shoulder with his sleeve. He started breathing normally again. James gathered his courage and leaned down to pick the empty notebook up off of the floor, passing it carefully to Louis.

"We... never got introduced," he swallowed nervously. "I'm James. Clementine's friend."

Louis looked at the notebook silently, hesitating to open it. James' heart started beating faster as he grew more anxious. He knew the boy hadn't spoken in days - maybe even weeks by this point. _Why would he talk to me if he won't talk to his own friends?_ He tried to wait patiently but doubts plagued his mind and he started to fear that he had overstepped. He was about to move to give Louis space when he heard the scratch of pencil on paper and he quickly turned to see what Louis had written.

_Louis._

He had only written his own name, but James was so relieved. "Nice to meet you, Louis," he said awkwardly, frantically trying to think of what to say next. "Your friends... we've been worried about you."

His next reply came much quicker.

_They don't understand._

"You mean... what it's like? What she did?"

Louis nodded sadly, his eyebrows furrowed. 

"Without having experienced it... they might not be able to understand, but they care."

_They were always telling me to shut up before this._

The heartbreaking words stunned James into silence. A few tears slid down Louis' cheek and he wiped them away quickly, looking at the wall to avoid James' eyes.

"I'm sorry," James said, struggling to speak past the lump in his throat. "That's horrible. I'm sure that... they never wanted anything like this to happen to you. That doesn't make it okay - but at least know that."

_I don't know why they bothered saving me._

"Of course they saved you - you're a person worth saving. I - I know we just met, but you're Clementine's friend. She's kind - do you know how rare it is to see kindness in this world?" He swallowed hard, trying desperately to find a way to express how special their group was. "Your friends are the same. I know you're kind, too. We need to hold onto the good in this world."

_You almost died. I'm not worth it._

"I don't regret it. Some things are worth dying for."

Louis didn't know what to say. His heart swelled at James' words and he didn't know how to express how grateful he was for his kindness. He slowly leaned into the other boy's side, breathing softly against his neck.

"I'd like... to be friends, if you want. I know your friends miss you, too."

Their eyes met - truly met - for the first time. Louis could see genuine hope in James' eyes and he felt a spark of hope deep in his chest. Something he never thought he would feel again. He nodded, letting go of the notebook to pull James close to him instead. They stayed close to each other for a while, in a gentle embrace. Simply being with another person was more comforting that Louis had expected it to be. 

After some time had passed, James gently pulled away, leaning down to bring the book on sign language up onto the bed.

"I've been learning some sign language, with the others. When you're ready, I can help you learn, too, if you want."

James flipped the book open to the first page, looking at the symbols drawn there, hoping that Louis would join him. He looked down at the book and felt overwhelmed at first, but he was motivated to give it a try for James' sake.

He raised his right hand, attempting to move his fingers to match one of the signs on the page.

_Thank you._

James beamed, raising his hand to sign the same words back to Louis. He thought of how happy the others would be when he told them they had spoken and even started learning sign language together. They continued going through the pages together for some time, only stopping when Violet and Clem brought them lunch. 

The wounds from that traumatic night were still there, but they were starting to heal, slowly, together.


End file.
